


Bruising

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Paint The Sky With Stars [39]
Category: Night World - Fandom, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Crossover, Fusion, M/M, au - witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-23 01:46:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7461759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, <i>I bruise you / You bruise me / We both bruise so easily</i> -(Five for Fighting)."</p><p>John and Rodney try to put themselves back together and bruise each other a little along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bruising

Rodney knew he was walking a fine line, but he had to keep his chin up and never waver, because this wasn’t just about making sure John was safe - it was about making sure the expedition survived what was coming. Because Lorne was right - the expedition needed him and Ronon. Teldy had done an admirable job as military commander, and Lieutenant Vega was a fine 2IC, but Ronon’s expertise with combat against the Wraith and Lorne’s seemingly magical (maybe actually magical?) ability to know everything that was going on in the city was invaluable. Things ran smoother with John at the helm and Lorne at his side. Rodney - and everyone, really - felt safer when Ronon was going through the gate with his giant blaster rifle and his broad shoulders and his unshakable courage in the face of the Wraith threat.  
  
Woolsey didn’t realize what he’d inherited from Sam Carter in taking over the Expedition as its leader. Sam’s decade in the Stargate program had prepared her for the reality of vampires, witches, and shapeshifters, which had been Elizabeth’s daily reality for three years (and her previous dealings with the Goa’uld in negotiations on Earth had given her a leg-up on Woolsey too). Woolsey thought vampires, shapeshifters, and witches were just extra-strong humans.  
  
Anyone who looked at John now had to know they weren’t. Except Carson was back roaming the planets in his quest to combat the Hoffan drug, so no one knew what to look for. John’s eyes were even more mercurial than before, bright blue in amusement, deep violet in lust, blazing silver in hunger. His skin was perfectly smooth, like porcelain, and the liquid slide of muscles beneath his skin had literally made Rodney’s mouth water on more than one occasion. The slinky saunter that had always set John apart from Lorne and other soldiers, who moved through the halls like they were marching, had become a sensual roll of his hips, like he’d just rolled out of bed after hours of languid sex.  
  
Heads were turning even more frequently when he passed in the halls, but Rodney knew John assumed it was because everyone was wary of him after his stint in the brig. He stuck by Rodney basically round-the-clock, though he went to bantos training with Teyla, sat in on meditation sessions with all of the gene carriers, and went running and to the shooting range regularly. He was removed from the chain of command, so he stayed out of Teldy and Vega’s way, and he hung around the lab, initiating this, calculating that.  
  
He was quieter, his movements stiller. Rodney didn’t know if it was the fact that he was actively a vampire or because he knew a good chunk of the expedition still didn’t trust him after what he’d done to Lorne, who’d been respected and even liked, especially among the civilians. John still slouched all over furniture instead of sitting properly, but he had this new way of - disappearing, when Rodney stopped paying attention to him. If Rodney wasn’t actively thinking of John, he lost track of him. John's supernatural predatory grace was now accompanied by supernatural stealth.  
  
And that wasn’t just because Rodney still had his walls up high, refusing to let John in.  
  
“We never had the chance,” Rodney said quietly, when it was just the two of them in the mess hall late one night.   
  
“Chance?” John echoed.  
  
“To learn to be a couple the old-fashioned way. Get to know each other. It’s not natural, to always know what someone else is thinking and feeling. Carson once told me that some soulmate pairs don’t take it because they can’t handle the thunder and lightning, the drama, the grandiosity of it all. The intensity out of nowhere.”   
  
John nodded.  
  
“So I thought - let’s try this the usual way.”  
  
“We’re not a usual couple.”  
  
“No, we’re not,” Rodney agreed. “But all healthy relationships have the same foundations. Let’s find our foundation again.”  
  
John searched his gaze, Rodney felt John’s mind brush against his walls, but then John nodded, and that was that.

John hadn’t been a full vampire for more than a few days at a time since he was a teenager (when his mother was murdered by a shapeshifter who looked like he could’ve been Lorne’s father; John knew the truth in nightmares but in daylight would say that hunters had slain his beloved mother, the unparalleled Amethyst Redfern). So John under-estimated his strength time and again when he and Rodney were alone. When he was running or sparring or lifting weights, he dialed back on his vampiric traits so no one was the wiser (he still ate normal food, too). But when he and Rodney were alone, lost in the throes of passion, mouths meeting and hands roaming, John forgot how strong he was - and how fragile Rodney was in comparison.  
  
And sometimes, after a night of tentative sex - relearning each other’s bodies when they could no longer hear each other’s encouragement and pleasure long after words had abandoned them was hard - Rodney’s skin was covered in finger-shaped and mouth-shaped bruises. Every morning, John was sorry. But Rodney knew he was bruising John right back, every time John reached out with his mind and ran into Rodney’s walls.  
  
But Rodney didn’t dare let John in, let him see what Rodney was planning, because what he was doing would save John and Atlantis, but John would never let Rodney do it if he knew.  
  
So John said sorry, and Rodney kissed his apologies away, and they let the salve of the day soothe their bruises, and at night, Rodney combed through John’s nightmares and missed him.


End file.
